Qrow's Flock
by Nari8
Summary: This is the story of Qrow Branwen. A child of bandits, a student, a brother, a friend, a lover, a fighter, and at the end of the day, a man trying to save his world.
1. Chapter 1: Tribal Warfare

In the world of Remnant, a land haunted by the creatures of Grimm, there is one thing for certain: there is safety in numbers, but only if you trust those numbers. That was the way we grew up, my sister and I. We were the children of our tribe's Chieftain, the Branwen twins heirs to the most feared tribe of thieves in all of Mistral. Raven and Qrow. We were born together and for the first few years of our lives we did everything together.

Our play was that of warriors, because our family was made of soldiers. Soon swords made of sticks became metal and our games became far more dangerous. At twelve years old, our father told us to come with him on a raid.

I was a little scrap of a thing, twigs had more to them than I did and I was admittedly shorter than my sister, but not shorter in range on the battlefield. We were flashes of shadow, the black spots that soared across the sky, a murder of crows, descending on the land. We had done all we could to help the family. Raven was alight with the fire of battle, I was trailing behind when we happened upon an old man wandering past a farm. He was hoary haired, dressed all in green and walked with a cane. We thought he was an easy target, but we were grievously mistaken.

Father told us to make short work of him. Always the first one to jump the gun, Raven went after him first, all her might on display. Her red blade slashed against him with the fury of a thousand years of perfection behind our ancient ways, but the old fellow matched her stroke for stroke. Raven's long hair soon became drenched with sweat and she was showing clear signs of fatigue but the old man looked as if he would rather have been drinking tea.  
It was a disgrace for a Branwen to show such inelegance, such struggle in the fight. Though I had not yet mastered my own weapon, it was me that my father pushed into the fray next.  
When the old man knocked Raven back, I charged. As my blade slashed downward, I almost caught a glimpse of surprise in the old man's eyes, but he parried me as if I were nothing. I launched a second attack, and this time the old man dodged, but he was not prepared for the Branwen twins to fight together.  
The two of us gave him hell, but in the end he wore out our fire, at the cost of my blade. It struck his cane just below his hand when the old steel made its last slash, the closest either of us came to wounding the stranger, and the blade shattered into fragments. I leapt back in retreat but my battle was not done yet. As we had been raiding a farm there was a discarded scythe on the ground, though not equipped for battle, it was something and I was desperate. I made several unsuccessful swipes at him, but he beat me back every time, he was clearly toying with us. In the end, both Raven and I fell on the ground before him.  
When the whole tribe emerged and surrounded us, only then did I see a hint of seriousness from him. He tapped his cane against the ground and the energy from his bright green aura surrounded everyone.

"You must all be very excellent warriors for even your children to fight with such vigor." He adjusted his glasses as he spoke, deep green eyes staring into me. As Raven and I knelt before him I felt as if he could read my thoughts, if I had hackles they would have raised.

"You haven't seen anything from the Branwen tribe yet," Our father stepped forward, death in his eyes, I knew the stranger wasn't going to last very long against his might, but he still looked unconcerned.

"I'm sure of it. That's why I would hate to have to kill you all." He grinned.

Father and the rest of the clan roiled with anger, but the strange man's green aura only bloomed stronger, as if he held them back with the might of his very soul.

"I propose an alternative course of action." He tapped his cane in front of us to get our attention, "My name is Professor Ozpin, I run a combat school in Vale called Beacon Academy. If you two would like to learn to fight as I do, when you are of age I will gladly have you both as students."

"You would teach our children your ways? At what cost to the Branwen tribe?" Father asked him.

"I would make them even stronger than they are now, but I assure you, what they learned would be a reflection of who they are, I would not want to take away from your tribe. I only hope to offer guidance to those whom may be its strongest leaders." Ozpin said.

"I want to learn." Raven struggled to her feet, "I want you to teach me everything. Then I want to kill you."

"Raven-" I tugged on her arm.

"I encourage you to strive to your fullest potential, but be warned, little bandit, it would take a lot of potential to kill me."

I wobbled beside her and Ozpin glanced between us, then back at our father and family gathered around us. His aura retreated within himself, "I will be back in five years."

Then with that, Ozpin was gone.

Five years until we would be sent off to a strange land and a strange school.

I glanced at the fragments of my weapon and the scythe in my hand.

Five years to make my weapon, and myself stronger.


	2. Chapter 2: Landing Strategy

"Are you ready?" Those were the next three words we would hear from Ozpin's mouth. He just appeared one late summer's night, under the trees near the edge of the tribe's hideout. I was actually just returning from relieving myself in those very trees and admittedly very unready.

"I'm ready," I lied as I tried not to look like I was still tightening my belt. His eyes saw right through me. I knew it.

"You have the same fire as your sister, but yours is a controlled burn." Ozpin's cane clacked against the stone of the pathway as he walked to stand beside me.

"I think she still wants to kill you." I said.

"I would be surprised if she didn't. Do you?"

"I'm not sure yet." My hand lingered over the hilt of my weapon, I'd hate to lose this one, I'd spent a solid year making it my very best, and it was a beauty, but I was not the same child he had fought years ago.

Ozpin hummed, "I appreciate the honesty, shall we go greet the rest of your family?"

The Branwen bandits are some of the most powerful of their kind to ever haunt the hills of Mistral, and like all the best bandits no one ever lived to sing songs of their ferocious power and might. If the bards had, though, what epics they would spin about our tribe, as monstrous as the Grimm themselves.

As expected, these Grimm made flesh did not take kindly to the old man just strolling into the heart of their tribe as if he had the address saved in his scroll. When all the shouting and failed attempts at assassinating Ozpin were over, we sat down to dinner, which was one of -though not the most-awkward meals I ever had, though definitely the most uncomfortable experience of my life up until that point. Ozpin sat between Raven and I and though he asked us both questions, only I gave answers. I felt as though my father wanted to slap me with every word I spoke.

When Raven and I shrugged our bags onto our shoulders and started to follow Ozpin down the road, our father called me back to him one last time.

"Remember who you are, Qrow, do not betray this family." He towered over me.

"Father I would ne-"

"You would never intend, yes, but you might. As of today you are not to speak of us to anyone, not even your sister. I would hate for anything to happen to you, Qrow, and I would hate even more to have to be the one to do it."

The Branwen darkness knows no bounds.

The bleakness of our tribe was soon left behind though as Raven and I boarded an airship bound for Vale, Beacon and a brighter day.  
It was not long into our journey before Raven and I were completely culture shocked. We had never seen so many people together, or so many colors. Outside the kingdoms the world is desaturated, it's too afraid to shine, but in Vale it is overwhelming. To Raven it was sickening, to me it was fascinating, everything was moving so fast until an appearance from Ozpin slowed the world to a crawl.

"The land of Vale does have a lot to behold," Ozpin snuck up on us, "As does it's people."

He caught us looking down through the port windows of the ship at the passing kingdom below.

"I can't wait to conquer it," Raven said it with complete seriousness, but Ozpin laughed much to her indignation.

"I would recommend against such open hostility, while you still have a long way to go." Just as soon as he came, Ozpin left and in his absence the world spun into a whirlwind once more. We landed, we heard him speak, we slept a night on a crowded floor surrounded by hundreds of strangers all our age and all a myriad of color and kind. We were our own little void, back to back, dots of gray and black.

Then we were perched above a cliff with a selection of other students and launched into the air. There were so many screams as the other students plummeted to the earth below but as they fell away everything fell into place for Raven and I. We shifted form in a heartbeat, our wings suddenly beating against the sky, no longer falling but gliding freely until the skies grew shadowed.

A Nevermore, and it knew we weren't ordinary birds.

Raven and I didn't even have to look at one another. We began evasive maneuvers, I dove into the trees, but a great screech rang out behind me. Fear wracked through my being, I was no more than a bite for a Nevermore as I was. I shifted back as I neared the ground, my hand grasping for my weapon, the monster bearing down on me.

I rolled and turned to defend myself just as the Nevermore vanished into dust before my eyes. In its place stood a young woman in a white cape, a long opal colored spear protruding from the ground. When she looked up at me her silver eyes nearly stopped my heart. I was afraid and enthralled all at once. And as Ozpin had said the first person we made eye contact with we were stuck with, I was now partners with her for the next three years. That certainly wasn't part of the plan.

"Thank you," I said as I lowered my weapon.

There was a strange glint to her silver eyes that for a moment I wasn't sure if she was another student or if she was some unknown creature entirely. Then she drew back her spear and lowered her hood, "My name is Summer, nice to meet you."

She had a smile that could capture the world, kind of like someone else I know. She stepped towards me but I stayed back, "My name's Qrow."

An awkward silence descended between us, but the Emerald Forest is one that is rarely silent for long. A thunderous roar echoed through the trees that could only have one source, my sister, bowling down a pack of Ursa. A particularly large one fell at her feet as she emerged from the trees.

She sheathed her blood red katana and came to stand beside me, "Brother, don't tell me you have already partnered up."

"Sorry about that," Summer waved at her, but her charms were lost entirely on Raven.

"Why must you disappoint me so?" Raven nudged my ribs.

"Hey, our teams can consist of four people, that way you don't have to be entirely split up." Summer shrugged.

"That is not my concern, my concern is this buffoon behind me." Just as my sister finished her statement another Ursa charged upon us. Before any of us could raise our weapons, a short broad shouldered boy had already kicked it away and he cleaved its head off with a single stroke from two short swords. He brushed his golden hair from his head and grinned at me.

"Name's Taiyang," he beamed at my lovely sister next. I felt her hovering over my shoulder, unimpressed with this buffoon despite his good timing. She would have turned around with her usual disinterested huff but for the second time in mere moments we were protected by him. With the suave flick of Taiyang's wrist, a short sword shot through the air-a hairsbreadth away from Raven's very precious hair-into the eye socket of a crouching Ursa. Raven contemplated him with minor praise in her eyes, but only for a moment, our fight was far from over.

The Ursa wasn't yet dead, Summer leapt and stabbed it through the side and it dissipated into dust. Just as it vanished another emerged in its place. And so we began to bond as only future Huntsmen and Huntresses could. We slaughtered Grimm until the forest once again fell silent.

Summer broke it this time, "Onto the relics?"

"Definitely, you guys fight great!" Taiyang gave us an appraising thumbs up and Summer lead the way through the trees. Taiyang followed right behind, and Raven moved next.

"I suppose we'll be stuck with them." She grumbled.

"I think this could be fun."

And with that we all fell into place -

Summer Rose

Taiyang Xiao Long

Raven Branwen

Qrow Branwen

Team STRQ.

Summer lead us well.


	3. Chapter 3: A Warrior's Clothes

" _This_ is our room?"

"I know, isn't it great?" Summer had yet to learn that my sister's tone was almost always her sarcastic tone. Summer marched right past Raven, before I entered the room, she had already claimed the bed across the room by the window with the drop of her bags. She flopped back onto the unmade mattress, her cape revealing her white, ruffled combat dress as she stretched.

"It will certainly be close quarters." Taiyang elbowed me with a waggled of his eyebrows as he stepped past me. "Where is the bathroom?"

Taiyang dropped his bag in the other corner across the room and went to explore. This left the two beds to either side of the door for myself and Raven. This suited us just fine, closer to the door, closer to the escape route. I sat down to clean my weapon but Raven was still eying the room suspiciously as if something could leap out from the bed springs.

I still don't know how my sister was so shrewd at so young of an age, and sometimes so needlessly. She made me help her search every inch of our side and we didn't even find bed bugs. Perhaps it was because she was groomed to lead from the moment she was born, while my father and I never quite saw eye to eye.

We unpacked little by little, my sister finally seemed to reconcile with the fact that she would not kill Ozpin within the next twenty four hours and so she at last made her bed. As Taiyang returned she was tucking the sheets down, knelt in front of the door, and his abrupt entrance nearly knocked her over. She stared daggers at him as he walked in, his arms full of clothes.

"Hey I picked up our uniforms, orientation is in the main hall soon, we should head over." Taiyang passed the clothes out, brown blazers and tweed skirts and - a kilt.

"They didn't have pants?" I asked as Taiyang held the kilt in front of me.

"It's a warrior's school and kilts are the uniforms of warriors, you know?" He stretched, "It's the freedom of movement."

Bastard.

I took it from him, a little doubtful but nonetheless unfamiliar with the ways of Vale. Summer had already darted across the hall to the bathrooms to change and Raven was soon to follow. As I naively settled on Taiyang's trustworthiness and ventured across the hall myself, Summer was on her way back, I smiled at her but she was too occupied with tying her cape to her blazer. If only she had been paying enough attention to see the skirt in my hands that was very much not a kilt, but Summer was never one for details.

I changed and folded my old clothes slowly, they were my last ties to Mistral and the Branwens. I was going to be someone new - someone who wore kilts.

Taiyang was still in his old clothes unpacking when I reemerged from the bathroom. Catch up with the girls he said. You will have fun he said. As angry as it made me, his own mischief would soon come to haunt him.

I stepped into the dining hall self conscious but not outright embarrassed until the crowd started to take notice of me. I searched for Raven's massive hair and Summer's telltale hood but I couldn't find them. At first it was a couple double takes, strange faces whipping around to stare and then back around with snickers. Then it was low giggling, then I realized all the boys had pants.

Taiyang was going to die.

I felt the shame creeping up on me. I at last saw Raven and Summer with two seats reserved for us at one of the tables. I walked towards them as the room burst into laughter. I could almost hear Raven shouting at me through her angry eyebrows. I heard Taiyang's laughter behind me and turned to see him now dressed - wearing pants of course, and resisted the urge to snap his neck right there. When I looked at Summer, she was beet red, but she wasn't laughing. Suddenly I had an idea - and a weapon.

I rounded on the nearest girl, a fox faunus with whiskers. I put my hands on my hips and jutted them forward, "Like what you see, ladies?"

The faunus turned as red as Summer and looked away with a light laugh. I turned to the person next to her - a boy with bright green hair, but that didn't stop me I wiggled my eyebrows at him and he blushed and laughed.

The roar of the room just got louder and I jumped up on a dining table, one leg stuck out at an angle, "Take it all in!"

Whistles mixed with the laughter and I felt myself blushing again, this time thrilled. One of the TA's with a particularly impressive mustache was rocking on the floor with laughter, I winked at him and moved onto my next victim. I saw Raven shaking her head in shame but I wasn't going to let her take away what confidence I had. I strutted up and down the tables, winking at women and laughing with them. A girl actually offered me her scroll number when a single snap rang throughout the hall and silenced everything.

"That's enough everyone." A severe woman with tied back blonde hair and glasses had her hands raised, a leather crop in one of them. Beside her Ozpin appeared and I felt the whole room tense.

"Calm down students, Professor Goodwitch, please take young Mister Branwen to get a proper uniform. Everyone else, why don't we discuss the landing strategies you used during yesterday's trial exercise?"

Some students were still snickering but I followed Goodwitch out with as much spring in my step that I could muster. When we left the Great Hall my act was gone in a moment, my shoulders slumped and I gulped in shallow breaths. I couldn't believe I had actually done that. I saw Professor Goodwitch giving me a stern side eye and calmed a bit. I was certainly making a name for myself at Beacon. Though the class clown wasn't what I had intended, I would take it as a start.

And a Branwen never forgets a slight.

After I was returned to class - in pants - I could feel Raven's disapproval wafting my way. I was sat beside her behind Summer and Taiyang. Summer looked back at me with an empathetic smile. Taiyang made no move to acknowledge me and my desire for revenge smoldered. After our classes ended for the day we were given time to train in our own team work out areas by the Forest of Forever Fall.

I was surprisingly happy to see our own Team STRQ sign by the training grounds.

I was even more happy to lunge at Taiyang as soon as he stepped into the ring. He had his swords up just in time. I didn't shift my weapon to a scythe, I knew he would be too fast for that. He was stocky but he was strong. He held his ground and drove me back towards the edge of the field, but even against his impressive strength, Branwens are stronger. I dodged his left sword and knocked the right from his hand. Down to one weapon he changed his stance but even with half his power, he would not go quietly. He caught me across the face just as my massive blade swung towards his shoulder.

"Enough!"

I felt a strange cord slip around my waist and I saw a flash of green snake around Taiyang just as we were about to connect. Then with enough force that my lunch almost reappeared we were ripped apart to opposite ends of the training field. I slammed against a tree and a cascade of orange and red from the trees fell around me. I looked down to see rose vines wrapped tightly around my torso. They trailed back to the center of the field where Summer stood. They had grown out from her right hand fingertips and Taiyang was across the field in a similarly restrained fashion with vines growing from her left. I glanced to the side and saw Raven, her hand on her sword and her eyes on Summer. Admittedly none of us had suspected her capable of this.

"This is supposed to be sparring and training. We are supposed to be a team. We need to work together as a team. That means our disagreements have to stay off the field." She glanced between me and Taiyang, "Go work this out, then come back here to train, I don't want murder on my training field, understood?"

Taiyang gave a quiet, "Yes."

I lowered my head and felt the vines retreat. When I looked up again they disappeared into dust and white rose petals. Summer rolled her shoulders, "Well now you know my semblance."

She grinned at us both but neither of us were particularly endeared to her at the moment. She sighed and turned to Raven, "Spar with me?"

"Sure." Raven grinned and drew her katana as Taiyang and I got up to leave.

As we exited the training grounds he turned to me, "Look, I don't know why I was such a jerk."

"I think you do." I said as I hooked my blade to my belt, it was back in its dormant form.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What you did took planning and full intention, you don't just accidentally grab three girl uniforms and immediately pass it off as normal."

"Maybe it did, I just like making people laugh, you didn't have to try to kill me for it." Taiyang shrugged.

"You shouldn't do it at the expense of your teammates though." I sighed as we entered Beacon's courtyard.

"I'm sorry, I guess we have a lot to learn about being on a team." Taiyang scratched his chin, "You know what would be a great way to work as a team?"

"What's that?"

"Let's prank that TA with the trumpet next." He got an evil glint in his eyes.

"Port?"

"Yeah his lectures are so boring."

I thought back to earlier, he sure had fun laughing at my expense, "Sure."


	4. Chapter 4: Branwen Red

My days at Beacon were unlike anything I had ever known. We had lectures and lunches, battles in the afternoon and days off on weekends. It was a structure I had never known, and admittedly it made me itch for something - unusual.

I found it in the other students. There were not many children in the Branwen tribe that were our age or brave enough to spar with Raven and I. The students at Beacon were all fearless and they fought in so many different styles and ways I could just get lost in their battles. I watched as much as I partook and though we rarely fought Grimm, on the occasions we did, Team STRQ did alright. Taiyang was too brash to listen to Summer's sense and Raven was a little sour that Summer was the one calling the shots instead of her. As for myself, as usual I just hacked the Grimm to death and tried to stay out of everybody's way - not that I had any success with that.

Things didn't really start to come together until the end of our first term. We were going on a mission shadowing a professional huntsmen or huntress. We would all be assigned to different areas of the country. We actually had the option to choose where we going to go but in spectacular STRQ fashion, we had all slept in that day.

Raven was the first to realize. She flailed from underneath her covers and screamed at the rest of us, "It's almost noon!"

In an instant, the rest of us were upright, and the clock on the wall confirmed her fear. We were so nervous we simply put shoes on and ran for the Great Hall. That was the incident that really made me and Taiyang even because while I slept in sweatpants and an undershirt like a normal person, Taiyang slept in bunny rabbit flannel pants and that was it. So once we entered the Great Hall, everyone in our year got a good view of Taiyang's pajama choices.

I hadn't really thought about what Summer wore to bed, somehow she already had her cape on and it obscured her clothes except for her unlaced knee-high gray boots. Raven slept in a t-shirt and shorts so she was perfectly comfortable as we scanned for an unclaimed mission, unfortunately most of the good ones looked to have been taken.

Summer found one slot that wasn't taken. It was escorting a train shipment to the northern end of Sanus. She pointed it out to us and just as we all agreed it sounded like a good choice, Goodwitch descended on us.

"This mission hasn't been sanctioned for first years."

"But Professor, there are hardly any good ones left." Summer pleaded.

"Yeah, come on, Goodwitch." Taiyang added.

Her response was to crack her crop in Taiyang's general direction. Being more scantily clad than usual he jumped back several feet, which attracted the attention of Ozpin.

"What's going on here, students?" He approached sipping his usual tea, the cane clacking as he went.

"Let us have this mission, Professor Ozpin," I said.

"Please,"

Raven never said please but I thought my sister said that. Evidently everyone else did too, because they looked at her mouth to make sure that was really the source of the sound. Unperturbed by our stares, Raven crossed her arms and repeated her request, "Please let us have the mission."

"Well I know that you are all capable students, despite certain appearances," Ozpin glanced at Taiyang, "I'll have to look over these specifications again. Hmmm."

"They're just first years, Sir, the recommended level of this mission is usually third years." Goodwitch wrung the crop in her hands.

"Do you think they are capable students?" Ozpin stared at her over his glasses.

Glynda glanced between us and Ozpin, "Well yes, but that's-"

"Hmmm. Yes, well I see a solution, Glynda, you'll just have to be the one to supervise the mission to see that they do alright." Ozpin went back to sipping his tea.

"But sir, how can you make an exception like this?"

"We must have faith in our students, Glynda." Ozpin grinned over his mug and went off towards the next group, "For without faith, they cannot achieve a fraction of their potential."

Glynda stalked off leaving us to meander back to our rooms to dress.

Raven nudged me in the side as we went, "He hasn't forgotten my plan to kill him."

"Plan? Did you really think the method through?" I asked.

"Well I have a general idea," Raven shrugged.

"Do you think he would have given us this mission if he was at all concerned that you were a danger to him?"

Raven sighed, "No, that's the problem."

"Hey guys, where did Summer go?" Taiyang asked as we rounded the dorm hall.

We pushed open the door to our room and there she was, three wrapped presents piled high in her arms.

"I wanted to get us something to commemorate our first big mission as Hunstmen and Huntresses." She handed a package to each of us and gleefully bounced back on her bed.

We each sat on our beds and unwrapped them. They were capes, yellow for Taiyang, black for Raven and red for myself.

"You're such a mom." Taiyang tentatively wrapped himself in his cape. It fit him but it made his already broad shoulders too boxy, he sighed and shrugged it off.

I glanced down at my own cape and unfolded it.

"Why red?" I asked as I held my cape up in the light. It was beautiful fabric, longer and wider than Summer's cape.

To my surprise, Summer was blushing, "Your eyes are red. I like them. They're your most prominent feature-Like Raven's hair is hers."

Raven was staring at her own inky black shroud in the mirror, it didn't sit well over her voluminous hair and she untied it

"And I'm just a dandelion?" Taiyang asked as he flapped his arms in the yellow fabric. We laughed as Raven folded hers.

"I'm sorry, Summer, I just don't do capes." She grabbed her clothes and headed to change in the bathroom, the cape left behind.

"Yeah, thanks for the gesture, but I'm not a cape kind of guy. A blanket kind of guy, that I could be." Taiyang tossed his on the bed and went to change.

Summer looked about ready to cry. I wasn't prepared for this softer side of our fearless leader.

"Hey,"

"What, you too?" she folded her arms and wouldn't look up.

I rolled my eyes and walked over to her. Without thinking about it, I patted her hair, "You know, _I_ am a cape kind of guy."

"Really Qrow?" She hugged me, just as Raven returned, accusatory eyebrow high in the air.

"I'm sure I can work this into my clothes." I wiggled free of Summer's grasp and went to change.

We weren't leaving for our missions until the next day so I put on my uniform and fastened the cape to my collar. My shoulders weren't as broad as Taiyang's, the cape made them bigger but not too much. I actually liked how it looked, though it was a little long for my taste. As I returned to the room, I thought about Summer's assessment of our colors. Taiyang was very obviously golden and yellow. His swords were gold, his hair was gold, a real sunny type. Raven's hair was like her own black shroud of doom, surrounding her at all times, honestly it was practically her own cape already. Summer was an interesting blend. All black and gray beneath the red lined, white cape.

I guess I would come to have a thing for girls in white.

Once our weapons were loaded and our attire closer to Glynda's standards, we embarked to our afternoon classes. As we left, Raven stood on my cape to hold me back.

I yanked it from under her boot, "What was that for?"

"You can't seriously intend to wear that?" She asked.

"What if I do?"

"Remember why we're here, Qrow." She sounded every bit like our father.

"Hey, I like how I look in red." I stalked away from her, "Branwen clothes tend to end up red anyway."

I was determined to wear the cape not only to make Summer happy, but admittedly, to spite my sister. Unfortunately, cape wearing is a lot harder for the novice than it would appear. Summer made it look easy, with her twirls and dashes here and there. In actuality, capes got stuck under chair legs, under feet, in between doors, and in the way of my own arms. Despite all this - damn is it majestic to walk in a cape. It made me feel almost as if I was flying without shifting form. At the end of the day, I made my way to the roof of Beacon and stood in the night wind.

"You're so pathetic."

Just when I thought I could get away from my sister, "What makes you say that today?"

"Fawning over her, wanting to be the favorite. Distracted by her gifts." I felt her approach behind me, she lurked in my blindspot as usual.

"Is that what you think is going on?" I asked.

"Why can't you just focus on why we're here?"

"Why can't you just relax?" I whirled on her, and the cape provided me with a nice whoosh effect to my annoyance, "For once in our lives, we're not the Branwen heirs, we're us."

I expected her to fight back, to tell me how wrong I was, to quote Father or one of the tribe elders, but the blank expression on her face told me I might have actually gotten to her. She turned and went inside, hair swooshing behind her in silence.

I turned back around to face the wind with a grin, her hair really was her own cape. I sighed and breathed in the night air, only to feel a presence reappear behind me.

I closed my eyes in exasperation, "Back for round two? I thought we were done fighting for the night?"

"On the contrary, I haven't seen you since this morning."

My eyes snapped open again, "I didn't realize it was you, Professor Ozpin."

He came to stand beside me, still swinging his cane but no coffee mug this time, "I come up here sometimes myself. I didn't realize this spot had attracted your attention as well."

"It's a nice view." I said.

"Vale is beautiful," Ozpin studied me from the corner of his eyes, "So have you made up your mind yet?"

"About what?"

"If you want to kill me, of course."

"Right now, I don't think I do."

"But that may change?"

"If our circumstances do."

"You and your sister are creatures of survival. I intend for you to do more than survive here. My hope is that you will thrive." Ozpin leaned on his cane.

"Why do you care so much about us, really?"

"Truthfully, the answer is selfish. There is a great threat to all mankind emerging from the shadows, and it will take the strongest Huntsmen and Huntresses fighting together if we even have a fraction of a chance to win."

"Well, that's a lot to lay on a kid." I stepped back from him.

"You're no ordinary child, Qrow." Ozpin sighed, "But don't be too concerned, all the pieces aren't in play yet. There's still a chance the coming conflict can be prevented. Just worry about your first mission now. Bodyguards, it was an interesting choice for Summer, and the Schnees are an interesting family."

"Bodyguards? I thought we were protecting a cargo shipment?" I asked.

Ozpin grinned. "Why yes, a shipment of Dust crystals yes, but also Jacques Schnee and his young daughter are part of the cargo."


End file.
